Sorry about the ultra late post...
I hope I haven't pissed too many people off...
Well here we haave it took me way to long to get his chapter out rewrote it about 7 times now and am completely pissed with myself for it..
Politics-"Many Blood Sucking Insects"
By: Me of course XD (EzeikelShepard)
Mai's mind could not make heads or tails over the images flowing through her mind. All she was able to glen from the rush was that it was about war with everything being destroyed but that is all she was able to understand.
"Hey!"
Mai's mind seemed to quiet down a little but she was even more confused because as far as she knew there was no one on the crew of the Normandy were telepaths seeing as there were no Asari that signed on with the experimental ship or crew.
"Well duh I'm not an Asari."
The images completely stopped and now Mai was sitting in a completely black void. She could see herself in vivid detail as if she was sitting in a well lit room. Mai couldn't figure out how this was possible or why she was there.
"Well that's something for another time…now WAKE UP!"
"Doctor! Doctor Chakwas! I think she's waking up!"
"It appears you are right Miss Williams…Varðr? Can you hear me? If so try to move your fingers…good now curl your toes…good now I need you to open your eyes…no don't roll over! I said open your eyes…" With a sigh Chakwas sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to forcibly role Mia over so she could continue to examine her basic motor skills.
Chuckling as she went over to look over a few read outs Ashley stole a glance back at the curled figure of the strongest warrior she had ever seen except she was acting like a young child making her think that she imagined the entire thing.
"Hahaha I see the little wolf is causing you trouble once again…" The man clad in black walked up behind the doctor only to chuckle at the sight that greeted him. "And I see she still doesn't like taking orders from anyone…"
"Sir!" Ashley snapped to attention with an Alliance salute.
"Hahaha so you are The Ashley Williams? If you are going to salute a warrior from Wolvendon don't salute like that…take your right hand and ball it into a fist. Hold it out loosely at about your navel and take you left hand. Place it flat on top of your right hand. Tap it three times and incline your head downwards just enough to show respect but not enough to let the person you are saluting out of your sight. Like so." Faster than anyone would think possible in the duster and armor he was wearing the man demonstrates the salute to Ashley and then grins. "And yes even with the shadows from this hood I still did not let you out of my sight."
"This is all well and good but I cannot see if there was any nerve damage from either of the artifacts…I have already noticed a marked increase in the genetic activity from the grafts that were done to save her life early in her childhood…"
"Doc…I know what happened to her in her early childhood…" With a sigh the man reached a hand into his hood and scratched the back of his head in thought. "You know Doc there is a way to check everything you need to in a span of a few seconds…"
"Oh? Pray tell what is it? If you are all finished maybe I could get back to doing my job?" Doctor Chakwas turned to continue checking Mai's vitals.
"As you wish my good Doctor…" taking a deep breath the man pulled down his hood and stepped up to the edge of the bed. "MAI JOY SHEPARD GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED OR I WILL SEND SCRUFFS TO THE POUND!"
Immediately after he finished that statement Mai shot out of the medical bed but tangled her foot in the blanket which caught the edge of the bed sending her careening into the wall. "Ow…" Mai slowly slid down the wall as the room fell silent. Rubbing her face to get rid of the redness Mai slowly stood up searching for the one who called out her full name and threatened her Scruffs with a scowl. The scowl dropped when she saw who it was and turned into a squeal of joy as she barreled into the man nearly knocking him over.
"Papa! What are you doing here?" Mai's voice was muffled as she continued to bury it into his chest plate.
With a chuckle her father pried her from his chest so that he could look her in the face, "I came as soon as I heard Ashley's emergency call. Looks like you trust her enough to not bother hiding that…" He points to what looked like a cream colored wolf's tail swishing through the air behind her in excitement.
"What the hell is going on here? I saw that thing back on Eden Prime but I thought it was just my imagination…" Ashley stared dumbfounded at the twitching tail. "Next you are going to tell me that she doesn't have human ears…"
"About that…" Mai turned around to face Ashley with a sheepish smile playing across her face. Mai takes off the leather guard framing her face to show Ashley that her joking quip was actually true. "I hid my ears with my hair since they are similar to a wolf's…including the placement. Are you mad at me for not explaining it to you sooner?"
Ashley's response came in the form of her fainting from the shock.
"I'll take that as a yes," Mai's father chuckled as he picked the now unconscious Ashley up and placed her on the nearest bed. Walking over to Mai he gave her a pat on the head as he passed her on his way out of the med-bay. "So… I will go get Anderson seeing as he will most likely want to debrief you himself…"
"I'll get dressed then…" Mai turned to face the doctor. "So…where are my clothes? I would like to be decently dressed when he arrives."
"Oh alright…your uniform is in the back." Chakwas muttered as she returned to her desk to write up her medical report.
"Um Chakwas where is my duster?" Mai poked her head out of the back storage room.
"It was damaged badly so I sent it to the armory to be destroyed…" Chakwas didn't even look up from her computer not even when she heard the sound of running feet. When she finally looked up was when she heard and saw Mai slam her hands down on the desk. Looking up she asked, "Yes?"
"Did you really send my duster to be destroyed!?" Mai's face was mere millimeters from Chakwas.
Recoiling Chakwas tried to compose herself as best she could. "Well…" Her eyes flic to her left and back to Mai's face. "Yes but I did get you a new one…modeled after you fathers…"
Mai glared at Chakwas as she walked over to the footlocker she had glanced at. "Next time just ask…my wrist comp could have repaired the damage…" Mai opened the locker and took out the wrapped package that rested at the bottom underneath a few medical gowns.
"It actually did…" Chakwas flinched when Mai's head snapped around to face her. "I was trying to surprise you with a gift…"
"Really?" Mai's face twitched with annoyance as she unwrapped the 'present' to examine the changes Chakwas made to it. Chakwas had the armor thread count increased to the new Wolvendon military standard. As well as having the color evened out through both the metal threads and the leather. She had also added a hood that was armored and shaped to rest comfortably on her head without crushing her ears. The hood was also angled in just such a way that her face from just above her mouth up would be covered in shadows. There was even a gel layer similar to her old helmet so that she could pull her hair out the back of the hood without compromising the environmental seal. The left sleeve had a flap on the outside so that she could have easy access to her computer. The right sleeve also had a similar flap but it was for reloading her wrist mounted dart gun. With a sigh Mai donned the duster and pulled the hood up into place.
"So what do you think?"
With a toothy grin revealing her elongated canines sending a chill down Chakwas' spine. "Yes…this is going to be lots of fun. I'll see you later Doc…I have to go find Anderson." With a nod Mai turned to leave.
"That won't be necessary Lyall." Anderson walked in and raised an eyebrow at Mai's get up. "I don't even want to know… So…it's time for your debrief. Varðr I have only one question…what the hell happened down there!?"
"Sir?" Mai cocked her head to the side as she backed up and used the closest medical bed as a seat. "I lost two men and damn near lost the planet! The artifacts became low priority once it became known that the colonists were in immediate danger! And I don't give a rat's ass about Alliance operational standards! For we Wolvendon warriors it's about civilian safety first before the operation!"
"I know I just needed to get it all down on record…if it makes it any better I believe you did the right thing. The civilians needed to be protected first." Anderson taped a few keys on his omni-tool before he shut it off. "So now the personal debrief…first both Jenkins and Jax Zanji aka Jinx are still in surgery there have been complications but they are expected to make it through the surgery at the very least. Second I've had Ashley transferred to your command…still trying to figure out what to do with Kaidan after you just kicked him off your team."
"Sorry…he wouldn't listen to my orders and kept questioning where my loyalties lie…so I had to put him in his place. For the record I do not regret telling him off like that…" With a sigh Mai looked down to her feet to gather her thoughts.
"What is it?"
"Nothing…I just am trying to make heads or tails of what happened and the message I got from the medical team just a little while ago…" Mai muttered as she activated her computer to forward the message to the captain. "It says that Nihlus woke briefly and muttered something about a turian specter named…Saren? Did I pronounce it right? So apparently this Saren was the one-"
Looking up Mai twitched with barely suppressed surprise when she saw Anderson's face awash with a myriad of emotions playing across his face. "Captain…?"
"Saren…" Anderson's voice was filled with rage as he spat out the name. "Again he is at it…"
"I'll…just…make sure we dock safely with the Citadel…" Mai slipped past the captain and fled to the bridge.
"Citadel Control this is the Wolvendon vessel Normandy requesting permission to dock…" Joker was impatiently tapping his finger against the armrest as he waited for the control tower to respond. There was a slightly garbled reply that was routed through his earpiece. "What the fuck do you mean 'you are not authorized to fly in Citadel Space'? We hav-huh?"
Mai had tapped on Joker's shoulder to get his attention. Once she had it she pointed to his ear piece which he handed to her with a grin. "You've got two options let us land or I'll be doing a Phoenix Jump through the Presidium Tower's Window to give my report to the Council in person! You've got five seconds to decide."
"Damn Lyall think you got their attention?" Joker jokingly asked as he piloted the Normandy into position between arms of the Citadel. "Alright…just got confirmation that we can land at exterior docking cradle ninety-nine. Closest we can get…"
With a nod Mai turned to head out the airlock and came face to face with a disgruntled Ashley. Mai raised her eyebrow underneath the hood forgetting for a second that she was wearing it. "Coming?"
"You aren't getting rid of me that easily…" Ashley intoned as she fastened her helmet on.
"Would never dream of it." Mai grinned as she hit the airlock release button. "I'll need the moral support to deal with the bureaucrats…"
"Great demoted to moral support…do I have to carry an instrument now?" she grinned as she made the motion of playing a trumpet.
With unsuppressed mirth Mai marched on out of the docking tubes and right into the waiting arms of Citadel Security. "Miss you are to hand over any and all weapons and technology that are banned by Citadel Ordinance 57325476. Miss? Are you paying attention?"
"Hm? Oh…sorry was looking up that ordinance of yours…and it doesn't exist…so you have ten seconds to tell me who you are and why you are in my way before I turn you into multicolored paint for this section of the Citadel." Mai lowered her left arm and reached into her duster resting her hand on her holstered pistol.
"Suns! Attack!"
With a sigh Mai double clicked her radio signaling the ships gunners to deploy the point defense turrets. "Ash…you might want to hit the deck…" After warning her Mai jumped up and back flipped onto the hull of the Normandy. Sitting down she rested her chin on her hand to watch the fight. If it could be called a fight, it was more along the lines of a one way slaughter as the fake C-Sec officers were reduced to a multicolored mist that covered over half the hallway.
"You ok there Ash?" Mai brushed off her pants as she searched for Ashley through the settling dust and grime.
Coughing Ashley's hand popped up through the dust cloud signaling that she was alive but having issues breathing through the dust. "Yeah…next time give me a proper warning…"
"Hahaha my bad." Mai jumped down next to Ashley brushing some of the grime off of her armor. "Now let's get going to Udina's office…shit…really am not looking forward this…"
"It can't be that bad…" Ashley muttered as they made their way through a series of elevators and walkways on their way to Udina's office.
"What the hell were you thinking!? Not only did you abandon the mission but the artifacts were destroyed!" Udina fumed as he paced the length of his office. "On top of all of that you go and kick the Staff Lieutenant off your team and the mission!"
"Yes I did because the Leftenant was disrespectful and questioned my orders." Mai glared at the ambassador as he paced. "'Sides it was a joint op with Wolvendon at the head so any and all major in the field decisions are made by Wolvendon soldiers. So shut up, sit down and get me an audience with the Council."
"Why the hell should I do that?" Udina intoned as he glared at the shorter woman.
"Because I will storm the Council Chambers to give them the full report if you don't." Mai threw back over her shoulder as she left his office with a grinning Ashley in tow.
"So let me get this straight…you are willing to risk a war to get the intel you are carrying to the Council?" Ashley asked as they made their way through the Presidium walking past the VI Avina which reacted to their presence with a greeting.
"Welcome to the Presidium Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. Who might the unregistered person next to you be?" The VI gestured in Mai's general direction.
"Um…" Ashley looked back at Mai with a perplexed look. "What is it talking about?"
"All Wolvendon personnel do not show up on any genetic based scanners…" Mai shrugged as she examined the VI terminal. "Virtual Intelligence…limited functionality…worthless thanks to the Citadel Council's Anti-Artificial Intelligence campaigns…I'm sorry little one…"
"Could you rephrase the question?" The VI responded in its mechanically toned voice.
"Nothing…lets go Ashley we need to get to the elevator." Mai sighed as she walked off towards the elevator she mentioned. Once inside she hit the button to send the elevator all the way up the Presidium Tower. Checking her wrist-mounted comp after it chimed informing her of a personal message. "Oh…I keep getting recommendations for some sushi restaurant on the Citadel…anyways let's get out of here."
Ashley followed Mai off the elevator and through the Council Chambers only to be stopped by a group of heavily armed C-Sec officers.
"Um…Mai?" Ashley gained a momentary glare from Mai before she calmed down enough to indicate the she was listening. "What is the current relation status between the Citadel and Wolvendon?"
"Strained is too nice of a word but that's what the Citadel Council says it is…" Shaking her head Mai turned her head away from the officers so that Ashley was the only one to see the evil grin spreading across her face. "We of Wolvendon say it's a 'Barking at the Moon' situation."
"'Barking at the Moon'?" Ashley asked as she too turned away from the officers to grin back at Mai.
"Yes…basically it means that they are like wolves barking at the moon." Mai laughed as she walked forward towards the officers. "Now let me through…I need to report to the Council as well as give them a piece of my mind."
"Miss Wolvendon personnel are not permitted within the Council's meeting chambers." The officer that spoke reached out his hand to stall Mai only to have his face smashed into the metallic floor of the walkway.
"Woops…sorry should have warned you not to touch me…I have a thing about that…" Mai said as she raised her hands in surrender as she stared down the barrels of the C-Sec officers weapons. Mai sighed as she continued to stare down the officers.
"Lower your weapons!" A large group of heavily armored and oddly armed warriors suddenly materialized out of thin air around the C-Sec officers. The warriors were all dressed the same odd fashion almost like it was meant to be their uniform. They wore helmets that were modeled after old Greek Spartan helmets, horse tail plume and all. But the armor they wore had a more rustic feel to it giving it the distinct look almost like a Viking's armor. The warriors also wore what looked like an old western duster but it had a slight golden hue. Over their hearts and on their backs a pair of wolves, one black and the other white, who were circling a moon which had a crimson phoenix nesting on its surface. Their weapons were even odder seeing as they did not wield any guns but instead wielded a spear and shield in the same fashion as their helmets. Each of their shields were painted with a crest unique to each warrior while the shaft of their spears were carved with equally unique and intricate carving. "You are pointing your weapons at the First Beta of Wolvendon. Lower them now!"
"It's alright, they wouldn't kill a warrior of Wolvendon…well at least not an unarmed one." Mai muttered as she forced her way through the officers. "I'm here to give a mission report to your damn Council."
"And I'm with her…" Ashley hurriedly pointed out to the officers as the turned a scrutinizing eye onto her. Without even glancing back she rushed after Mai. "So is there a plan or are we just going to barge right into the lion's den?"
Mai grinned evilly as she turned her attention to Ashley as they made their way up the steps. "After hanging with me what do you think it would be?"
"Into the lion's den it is then…" Ashley sighed as she followed Mai up the steps.
"This is an outrage! The Council would step in if it was a Turian colony that got attacked!" Udina's rage filled voice could be heard over the constant din of the Council Chambers.
"Turians don't settle colonies out in the Travers." A Turian voice replied with equal volume and force.
"Well…then the Turians need to share some of their potential colony sights…" Mai chimed in as she stepped up onto the speaking platform next to Udina. "Or you could actually adhere to your, what do you call it…charter? Well either way you are required to defend any species or colony that is part of your nation and also to honor your agreement with the Alliance. When you do not, we the warriors of Wolvendon have to bleed for it!"
"What the hell is a Wolvendon soldier doing here in the Council Chambers!?" A purple skinned woman spoke up from her position next to the Turian Council member that had just finished verbally getting put into his place by Mai. This woman's skin was its natural color since she was an Asari, one of the many other races that Humanity has encountered after discovering FTL flight.
"Child… You will show respect to the envoys from Wolvendon here to report on what happened on Eden Prime!" Barked out a voice that every Human in the Council Chambers has come to recognize with the utterance of a short sentence, many to the other races have also come to recognize the voice none more so than Mai.
"Who dares to show me such disrespect!?" The Asari glowered as she looked in the direction that the voice had come from.
"…Child…have you truly forgotten the sound of my voice?" The owner of the voice came into view as he walked up the steps to the speaking platform. Mai turned around and slammed into his chest giving him a crushing bear hug. "Now, now little wolf you need to remain professional in public remember?"
Mai grumbles as she disentangled herself from him and took her place next to Udina once again. Mai decided to take her frustrations out on Udina's foot via a grinding stomp.
Leaning over Ashley whispered low enough so that Mai was the only one to hear her question. "Little Wolf?"
Mai shook her head in response and muttered, "One of his many nicknames for me…"
"I have no idea who you are but if you are going to stand before us you need to keep your…how does that Human expression go…'dog of war' on a leash." The Asari Councilor punctuated her statement with a gesture towards Mai as she tried to act like she hadn't just crushed Udina's foot.
"Child…my daughter and second in command is not a 'dog of war'. She is here to report to you what happened on Eden Prime. That is why I am here as well." The man spoke as he pulled down his black leather hood showing his face to the Council. "Now child must I remind you of whom it is you are speaking to?"
"I am no one's child! I am-" The Councilor turned her gaze from the wincing Udina to the black clad man. With a gasp of shock she grew angry and was unable to prevent her anger from surging forth. "You are supposed to be…"
"Missing? Yeah I kinda decided that I would best serve Wolvendon and the galaxy as a common grunt…fat lot of good that idea did…" The man suddenly became very interested in his gauntlets and was fiddling with them trying to get them to fit snugly. "Hello Tevos it's been what? Seven years?"
"Eight and a half to be precise…" Tevos muttered as she eyed the black clad man with extreme scrutiny. "You haven't aged any in that time. How does a human even do that?"
"That is a mystery for another time…right now we need to discuss what happened on Eden Prime." Turning around to acknowledge the softly glowing creature, that had started to pull on his hair in irritation at being ignored, he held out his to allow it to land on his hand. "What's the rush Aisha?"
The creature pulled on his armored thumb as if it could force his hand to rotate. Obliging the creature the man relaxed his wrist allowing the creature to rotate his arm enough that it was able to access the tactical computer mounted on his wrist spanning his entire lower arm. The creature placed its hand on the screen and seemed to be downloading multiple data streams directly from its body.
"Thank you for the update Aisha." After scrolling through some of the data the man's expression first hardened then grew pained as he read on. He then turned to face the Council with a solemn expression, "The final numbers are in…"
"Well don't keep us in suspense," Muttered the fast spoken and admittedly squishy looking third member of the Citadel Council.
"Alright the total comes out to 379 Alliance personnel KIA, another 113 MIA, and 76 currently being treated on our medical vessels. Civilian casualties: 245 KIA, 26 MIA and 57 on the medical vessels." The man dressed in black paused as he continued studying the reports.
"And what of Wolvendon's losses? You can't expect us to believe that you have suffered no losses when the Alliance suffered so many?" The Turian Counselor growled indignantly as the man just kept solemnly scrolling through the reports.
"Sparatus…let me grieve for the children I sent knowingly to their deaths just to hold up a one sided treaty…" The man kept typing away as his face assumed the mask of a leader once more. "The full extent of Wolvendon's loses will be unknown for a few more weeks seeing as many of the warriors deployed to Eden Prime operate as tight night families that do not have to report to the Jordargi unless they need to resupply or request leave. But our current estimates are as follows: MIA 379 Warriors of varying standing, 246 currently receiving medical treatment…and 173 officially KIA…"
When the man had finally listed the total confirmed dead Mai fell to her knees staring blankly forward. The man noticing this stepped over and gently rested his hand on her head reassuringly. After a few moments passed he whipped around to face down the Council with enough rage to cause all three of them to take a step back. "I will only tell you this once…next time have the fleet you had hidden in the nebula near the planed step in before Wolvendon has to shed the blood of its own to uphold the Citadel Charter!" With that the man turned his back to the stunned council and started to march off when he paused as if he had remembered something. "Oh by the way the Specter Saren Arterius will pay in blood for the blood he spilt." With that he marched off pulling his hood back up covering his features in shadows once again.
The Council just stared as the man left almost as swiftly as he had appeared.
Udina took the opening he had left and cleared his throat to get their attention. "The First Alpha of Wolvendon has a point. Saren must be held accountable for the loses on Eden Prime."
Sparatus fixed Udina with a glare that spoke volumes of how much he despised the man. "There is no evidence of Saren having any involvement in the tragedy on Eden Prime. I would advise you to hold your tongue. Where do you think you are going Crimson Lyall?" Fixing an equally sever glare on Mai as she slowly walked away with her back turned to the Council.
"I'm going to prove to you that your precious Specter had gone rogue." Mai called back without turning her head towards him. Ashley glared at Sparatus with equal parts disgust and loathing as she quickly jogged after her.
Udina ducked under the potted plat he had imported from his home country back on earth as it joined the many objects that now continued to sail through the air with Mai at its epicenter. "Will you calm the Hell down or will I have to call C-Sec to tranquilize you!?"
Taking a few calming breaths Mai felt her rage slowly slip away. "I need any leads that you have on the evidence to prove Saren's guilt…and I need it now!"
Flinching Udina pulled an OSD from his terminal and handed it over in the hopes that it would get her out of his office.
"Thank you. Now Udina I don't have to remind you of what will happen if all the leads turn out to be false now do I?" Mai quirked up her eyebrow as she downloaded the intel and fastened on her combat mask. After confirming that Udina got the message she marched out the door to find the first lead in the form of a Turian C-Sec officer by the name Garrus Vakarian.